By Colin Kellaher
Hedge fund Alden Global Capital has once again increased its bid for DallasNews is an effort to wrest the Dallas Morning News publisher from rival Hearst.
Alden, which already owns nearly 10% of DallasNews, said it is now offering $18.50 a share in cash for the rest of the company, 23% above the $15 a share that Hearst has agreed to pay in a deal that DallasNews shareholders are slated to vote on at a special meeting next month.
Alden last month made an initial offer of $16.50 a share and last week raised its bid to $17.50 a share.
DallasNews has thus far rejected Alden's overtures, saying the owner of such big-city newspapers as the Chicago Tribune, the New York Daily News and the Boston Herald has a history of cost-cutting, staff reductions and reduced coverage of local communities.
Robert Decherd, the great-grandson of a Dallas Morning News co-founder, and controls more than half of the company's voting power, has previously said that he supports the Hearst deal and that "there is no scenario" in which he will vote in favor of a sale of the company to Alden.
In a letter to shareholders on Tuesday, DallasNews said that while Decherd doesn't have the ability to approve the Hearst deal on his own, he can veto an alternative transaction with Alden.
The company also warned that if its shareholders don't approve the Hearst deal, DallasNews will remain a standalone public company, and its shares could return to the $4 neighborhood where they were trading before the deal was announced.
Alden said Decherd's concerns are unwarranted, and that its non-binding proposal is "indisputable evidence" that DallasNews' value far exceeds the price negotiated with Hearst.
DallasNews shares were recently changing hands at $14.88, down 0.2%.
Write to Colin Kellaher at colin.kellaher@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
Alden Global Capital is an investment firm. "Alden Global Capital Raises DallasNews Bid," at 11:03 a.m. ET on Aug. 20, incorrectly referred to the company as a hedge fund.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 21, 2025 08:06 ET (12:06 GMT)
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